Code: Tears of Destiny
by Izlawake
Summary: "I escaped Them. I'm free." That was what Destiny thought when she arrived in France, but her latent powers have attracted an evil computer program hellbent on taking her as its own. Now she must fight back alongside a group of teens, both in the real world and a virtual one against Them and Xana.
1. First Steps

**Code: Tears of Destiny**

In the suburbs of Sceaux, France, a bus was in the process of its stops, when it came to a halt. Only one person got off, a teenage girl of Japanese origin. She gathered her jacket and messenger bag and waved goodbye to the bus driver before disembarking. A cool breeze blew through, so she slipped her jacket on, which was big for her, and did nothing to cover her legs which were exposed thanks to her school uniform.

The girl unfolded a map of the suburbs and tried to find a specific house, but the map only showed the usual information, not the houses's owners. She cursed under her breath and began walking down the street. The wind constantly blew her long brown hair in her sky blue eyes, but she paid it little heed, only making sure her left eye was obscured for the most part. If you were to look at this girl closely, you would be able to see a few streaks of bandages going across her forehead.

The girl saw an elderly man walking towards her, and she froze in place for a moment, but she relaxed her breath. "_There's no way they know I'm here in France_," she thought. "_I doubt they know I left Japan_." She stopped the elderly man and showed him the map.

"Excuse me sir," she said. "I'm looking for someone by the name of Doctor Takumi Narahashi; I heard he lives somewhere around here."

"Narahashi?" wheezed the old man. "Sorry, I've never heard that name before. Who are you though?"

"Oh, me? I'm his niece, Destiny. I came here to visit him." Destiny bit her lip.

"Well, I'm sorry I can't help you, but I'm sure you'll find your uncle soon." He gave her a smile before trotting off, leaving the young girl alone. She stood there for a few minutes, pondering what to do.

"Now what should I do?" Destiny wondered aloud. Suddenly, a sharp pain hit her in the waist, making her wince. She lifted her shirt up slightly, revealing a bloody pad wrapped in bandages covering her skin. "I thought I cleaned this enough?"

Destiny sighed and made her way to a nearby pharmacy for supplies. There, she bought some bandages, pads, and a bottle of alcohol. On her way to the register, she spied a small shelf of white eyepatches. She ruffled through them before finding one the right size for her. She paid for the items, which exhausted all of her money except for three euros.

"Is there a restroom I can use?" Destiny asked the cashier woman. She pointed to a door near the back of the store; Destiny said her thanks and took her items back there, where she went in and locked the door behind her.

Destiny laid out her items on the sink and began undressing herself, slipping off her skirt and clothes, standing in just her bra and panties. She looked at herself and sighed, taking a moment to stare at her body. On her right arm rested a tattoo reading "03" in black coloring. She began to cry, covering her face in her hands. When she looked at the mirror again, only the right side of her face had tears, her left still hidden by her hair.

Destiny peeled off the bloody bandages, revealing a small hole in her waist. She gritted her teeth at the sight as she unscrewed the alcohol bottle open and dribbled it onto the wound. She squinted her eyes and made a sound, but she did not scream. When it was done, she placed a clean pad on and wrapped it in bandages. The pad gained a small splotch of blood, but it stopped.

"_Now it's time for the eye_," she thought. Destiny brushed her hair away, revealing a mountain of bandages covering her left eye. She began stripping them away, all the while her hands shaking uncontrollably. "_I don't want to look at it; not again_." Destiny clasped her eye shut as the last of the bandages came off. She pushed her hair back in place, covering her left eye. She took the eyepatch out of the box and stretched the elastic bands across her face, placing them behind her ears. She looked at her reflection again, now seeing the white patch covering her left eye, allowing her to breathe easy.

Destiny got dressed again and threw the used items in the trash and the new ones in her bag and exited the restroom. She felt better knowing those bandages were not covering half her face, but the damage was still there.

As she exited the pharmacy, she spotted a man wearing a black suit and shades coming towards her, making her gulp. She kept walking though, hoping the man was not who she though he was. "_He's probably sick and needs cough drops or something, that has to be it_," she thought. The man drew closer and closer, and Destiny was feeling scared. "_Please God, don't force me to use it_." He was a couple feet away now. Destiny's right hand clenched into a fist. The man walked past her without paying heed while Destiny could hear him muttering, "Shampoo, Flu-B-Gone, and bandages." Destiny sighed and relaxed her grip.

"_Nothing to worry about. He's not one of them_." Destiny glanced at her wristwatch which read "3:21." It hung a little loose off her wrist, but she did not have time to check sizes when she stole it a couple weeks ago. Her stomach began growling at her demanding food. She patted her stomach and strolled down several streets, unsure of how to get some food with a few euros.

After a half hour of walking and begging for some money from people, Destiny found herself staring at a house from across the street. She watched as a middle-aged woman exited the front door and drove away in her car. After checking that the coast was clear, Destiny approached the house. She peered at the mailbox which read, "Ishiyama."

"_Sorry I have to do this Ishiyama family_," she thought before heading for the front door. Obviously, it was locked. Destiny checked for witnesses and took hold of the doorknob and began concentrating. She envisioned the other side of the door and its lock. Destiny tried harder and harder, a tingling pain pounding in her head, and the lock began undoing itself from the other side. Destiny heard a click and relaxed, falling to one knee, gasping for air. She wiped the sweat off her head and quietly entered the house.

Inside, Destiny noticed the place held some Japanese styled rooms, especially the sitting room. In the kitchen, Destiny found a note sitting on the counter addressed to a Yumi. It read:

"Yumi, I'm going to be out until later tonight, as well as your father. Watch your brother and make sure the two of you do your homework and make some dinner for yourselves. See you tonight! -Mom"

Destiny smiled. "_It must be nice to have a family_," she thought. She opened the fridge and grabbed a container of leftover stew and a soda. She tossed her jacket and bag on the floor before sitting down to eat. Destiny found she was still hungry afterwards, so she grabbed some more food to eat. After finishing her meal, Destiny moved upstairs where the bedrooms were. She went into the parents's room, where she rummaged through the dressers and took some of the cash she found and added it to her wallet.

Our little thief then moved to the next room, which had a piece of paper taped to it reading, "Hiroki's room. Keep Out!" Destiny smiled before entering; after looking around for several minutes, she found a secret stash of money hiding in the sock drawer. She was about to stuff it into her wallet, but instead placed it back in its hiding spot and exited the room.

"_Despite what I'm doing is wrong, I can't steal from a kid_," Destiny thought as she shifted to Yumi's room. There, she pocketed some money she found and walked back downstairs to gather her stuff and leave. Just as she gathered her bag and jacket, Destiny heard the front door jiggle as the lock came undone. Panicking, she dashed upstairs into Yumi's room for a place to hide. Destiny yanked open a closet door to find bedsheets, pillowcases, and a fold-up futon inside. She threw her bag and jacket in and crawled inside, shutting the door just as Yumi entered her room.

From inside the closet, Destiny shifted around a little as it was quite cramped. She cracked the door open an inch, watching Yumi go about her business. The hours went by and Destiny stayed in her hiding spot; she had a few chances to escape, but it was going to be cold that night and it was warm in the house. At around nine o' clock, Yumi received a phone call, which sent her into shock when she answered it. Destiny watched from her hiding spot.

"Xana has launched an attack?!" she exclaimed. "I'll head to the factory right away!" She hung up and went for her bedroom window, opening it and jumping to the tree outside. Destiny crawled out into the bedroom and went to the window, where she spied Yumi running down the nighttime street. She closed the window and went back to the closet, still curious about that phone call.

"_What was she talking about there_?" Destiny thought as she paced back and forth. "_Who is Xana? And what was that talk about an attack_?" Destiny pondered some more, but decided it was none of her business, so she went back into the closet to sleep for the night.

The night seemed to pass quickly. The next thing Destiny knew, she was awakened by a loud beeping sound before hearing a thud. Destiny cracked open the closet to see Yumi getting out of bed and gathering her bathrobe and a towel from a chair nearby and stripping down before wrapping the robe around her body and leaving.

Destiny took this opportunity to leave her closet space, stretching out her limbs after a long, cramped night. She grabbed her bag and jacket and went to the window, take care not to make any noise when opening it. When it was done, she jumped for the tree outside, grabbing a branch and carefully climbing down to the ground. Destiny vaulted over the fence and ran down the street before anyone could see her.

Back in the house, Yumi returned to her room shortly after Destiny left. She closed the window and went back to the bathroom, but not before seeing a teenager wearing a school uniform running down the street. Yumi did not recognize the person, and that only made her curious about the stranger.

Destiny rushed down the street, passing ordinary people on their way to work, who did not noticed the girl. After running four blocks, Destiny stopped at the bus station to catch her breath. While she was doing that, her head started hurting without warning; it felt like a large hammer was striking her in the head. She grabbed her head and began staggering, losing her balance and falling over. A horrible feeling rose in Destiny's stomach, forcing her to lurch and she began puking blood on the ground. The crimson liquid splashed onto the ground into a small puddle. Destiny was wiping her mouth when she felt a hand on her shoulder; she looked up to see a man in a suit standing over her.

"Young lady, are you alright?" he asked her. Destiny's hands began convulsing, and her words disappeared from her mouth. Without thinking, she shoved the man away and scampered to her feet.

"Stay away," Destiny muttered.

"Are you okay?" the man asked again.

"Stay away!" Destiny screamed. The pain in her head spiked, sending her hands to her head again. When her scream rang out, across the front of the station many things happened without explanation; a few windows shattered to pieces, and a couple trash cans flipped on their sides. Everyone who was nearby was rattled by the sudden turn of events. People began screaming while others were running away from the destruction. Destiny was already gone when it happened; she ran away with tears streaming from her eye.

Back at the station, a security camera were watching as the events unfolded in front of the bus station. On the lens of the camera flickered, and a particular eye-shaped insignia appeared on the lens, watching Destiny passionately as she screamed and ran when the glass shattered with no explanation.

Destiny was still running, and she didn't stop until she was clear out of view of the bus station. She fell against the wall of a building and wept, covering her face with her arms. "_Why? Why has this happened to me_?" she thought to herself. "_Why do I have this…thing? This thing has done nothing but cause pain for me_." Destiny held her hands in front of her face, staring at them for a moment before breaking into a sob once again.

**I'd say to say a very special thank you to Maria, aka TheInsaneChick, for her wonderful help in this story's early stages. Thanks so much little sister!**

**Remember to leave a review, it helps a lot, and I'll see you next time.**


	2. An Eye for An Eye

**Chapter 2: An Eye for An Eye**

_Destiny and the man were running down the hallway in the facility, the sounds of soldiers echoed behind them. The two ducked into an examining room and closed the door behind them. Destiny was wearing a patient smock and her long hair was obstructing most of her face. The man put his hands on her shoulders and spoke to her._

_"Destiny, this is the moment, but I need to tell you something very important in case something happens to me."_

_"What is it Dr Hajime?" Destiny sniffed._

_"Okay, in my house there's-" Hajime did not finish his words as the glass cabinets behind them suddenly shattered into pieces. The pieces flew for Destiny as she screamed in fright._

Destiny sprang up in bed screaming. When she realized she was in a homeless shelter, she calmed down. _It was just a dream,_ she thought. After a small bowl of soup and a three minute cold shower, Destiny felt a little better despite the circumstances, but it did not help much. She left and walked around the city more in the hope of finding Dr Narahashi, but no success came to her.

Destiny wandered aimlessly down the city streets, invisible to everyone around her too busy to notice a crying Japanese teenager. She prayed for a sign to help her, and it came in the form of a telephone book on a doorstep. She snatched the book and skimmed through the pages looking for Narahashi under N.

_There you are,_ she thought as she stared at his address. According to her map, Dr Narahashi lives a few streets from the Academy of Kadic, which lies south of her position. After ripping the page out, Destiny began the trek for his house. After a couple hours, Kadic came into view, and just in time, as Destiny was feeling hungry as well.

Destiny looked at her watch and the kanji numbers read eleven-thirty. "Hm, it should be lunch time at the school here, maybe I can sneak in for a meal," Destiny thought aloud. Destiny fixed her uniform and her hair to make herself look adequate and entered the gates. She saw several students out and got a little nervous, but they ignored her completely. It was then that Destiny realized she did not know where the cafeteria was.

Destiny approached a boy and girl who was talking with each other. "Excuse me," she said. "Um, I'm new here, can you point me the direction of the cafeteria?" The boy pointed over to a narrow building by the main building. Destiny said a quick thank you before heading over there. Inside, Destiny grabbed herself a tray and walked through the line which had a few other students. She found herself staring up at a large woman named Rosa who was commandeering a large pot of stew or something.

"Um, can you give me some food please?" Destiny asked in a hushed whisper.

Rosa smiled at her. "Well, what would you like to eat today, little lady?"

Destiny perked up a little. "Huh? I can choose what I want to have?"

"Of course, we have a number of things to choose from." Destiny chose to take a large helping of the stew, some mushrooms, and an apple and sat down by herself at a lonely table. While she ate, Destiny noticed that a few people would glance at her on occasion; she made sure her eye was hidden behind her hair to avoid any extra attention.

_They've never seen me here, so they think I'm new,_ Destiny thought. _I better finish quick and get out before anyone takes an interest in me._ After a while, a group of students entered and took seats at a table near Destiny; she recognized one of the girls as Yumi Ishiyama from the other day. When Destiny saw her, she almost choked on her spoonful. They sat together talking to each other about something that Destiny could not pick up, but she swore she heard something about a "Xana" and a "Lyoko."

_What are they talking about?_ Destiny wondered, then she mentally slapped herself. _No, it's none of my business, I have to focus on myself._ Destiny went back to her tray and continued eating when three students came over; one was a definite nerd boy, the other boy looked dumb as a brick, and the girl who led them had a princess attitude to her the way she strutted like she was the greatest thing there. They sat down around Destiny, but she ignored them at first. They merely stared at her for a few minutes before the nerd spoke up.

"So, are you new here to Kadic?" he asked. Destiny noticed that he was trying to be nice to her.

"Yes, I just arrived a while ago," Destiny lied. "Um, may I finish my lunch?"

"Don't mind us," said the girl beside her. "I just wanted to introduce myself; I'm Sissi, that's Herve there, and the other is Nicholas." They casually waved to her. Destiny noticed that one of Yumi's friends, a blonde with serious, spiky hair glanced over with worry.

"Look, it was nice meeting you three, but I must go." Destiny tried to stand up, but Sissi grabbed her wrist and yanked her down.

"Now listen you," she warned, her voice turning sour. "Just remember this: don't go bothering my Ulrich there." She pointed at another of Yumi's friends, a brunette wearing green clothes. Sissi tightened her grip, making Destiny wince as her hair brushed aside. "Also, I don't want you to attract any attention here, I'm the one who should be popu-" Sissi did not finish her sentence because she spotted Destiny's eye patch.

"What is that?" Sissi said, reaching for the eye patch. "You trying to be an attention-seeking slut around here?"

Nicholas hummed. "Well, that would explain the schoolgirl uniform and short skirt then."

"Hey, just leave her alone Sissi," Herve said, but Sissi hissed at him which made him shut up right away.

Destiny grabbed Sissi's hand and tried forcing her hand away from her eye. The two girls fought back each other while the cafeteria only watched. Sissi became angry and fought back harder and pulled off Destiny's uniform jacket, revealing her 03 tattoo on her skin. Destiny gasped and slapped her free hand over the tattoo, but that left her open, allowing Sissi to snatch the eye patch off her face. Destiny screamed as she fell to the floor with her hands over her face. She lied on the floor whimpering while two of Yumi's friends, Ulrich and Odd got up to deal with the problem.

"Sissi, why do you have to bother the new students so much?" asked a displeased Ulrich. Odd grabbed Destiny's jacket and handed it to her, which she snatched away and hastily slipped back on, shielding her tattoo and restoring some of her will back. Odd helped her up, but she was still covering her eye with a hand. Nicholas, however, was curious about her eye, and began looking for an opportunity. He found it, and he slapped Destiny's hand away, revealing her eye, and everyone who saw it felt sick to their stomachs.

Where Destiny's left eye was, it was there, but it was render useless; a long hole was in her eye, like a stab wound. The blood in her eye had dried out long ago, but her eyelid was frozen open, and the eyeball could not longer operate after whatever happened to it. Upon seeing it, Sissi immediately began puking, dropping the eye patch, allowing Destiny to scoop it up and put it back in its place. She began crying, her right eye lonely shedding tears. She quivered, and backed away from Odd.

"Hey, it's fine," Odd reassured her. "Nothing to worry about." He approached Destiny slowly while speaking his calming words, but she only felt more afraid.

"No, just stay away from me," she whimpered. Just as Odd stretched his hand out for her, that was when Jim entered the cafeteria.

"Alright, what's going on here?" he growled before spotting Odd and Destiny in the corner with everyone looking. "Della Robbia, what are you doing?"

"Oh hi Jim, see, our newest student kind of had a meltdown here, and I was giving her a hand." Jim walked over to check it out.

"What are you talking about Della Robbia? I haven't received word of any new students of late, and I've never seen this girl before." Jim grabbed Destiny by her hand and lifted her up. "Come with me young lady, and we'll straighten this out with the principal." Jim began tugging Destiny out of the cafeteria, but she resisted him.

"No! I'm not going back to Them! I will never go back!" Destiny screamed and in an instant, Jim let out of her, holding his twisted arm while howling in pain. Destiny made a dash for her jacket and bag, but Odd tackled her to the ground and held her down. Destiny struggled against the boy, but he was too strong for her. She stopped struggling and instead focused her gaze on Odd, and without warning, he was thrown off of her, yet those who saw would claim she did not touch him.

Destiny took this opportunity on throw on her jacket and bag and ran for the door, but Ulrich blocked her path. "Please, just let me leave," she pleaded. Ulrich shook his head and instead punched her in the face, making Destiny reel back, her nose bleeding. The rest of his friends gathered to help him as well, making Destiny back away.

"Please, I don't want to hurt you all anymore than I have to," Destiny warned, but they ignored her words. Destiny bit her lip and lowered her head. When her head came back up, her body had a near transparent silver aura surrounding her. She rushed forward and struck a few of the teens with her fists with lightning speed, sending them to the floor. She moved past the rest with no worry, and she was out the door and running for the school gates.

Ulrich got up and ran after her while Jim contacted the authorities. Out in the city, Ulrich was closing the distance with Destiny, but she was gaining speed. Destiny turned down a residential street and kept running, knocking over nearby trash cans in the hopes it will slow Ulrich down.

_How are they falling over without her touching them?_ Ulrich thought as he jumped over a fallen can. He saw a trash can lid spiraling towards him like a frisbee but he ducked under it just in time. "Just wait a second!" he called to Destiny. "Who are you?" Destiny ignored him and kept running, only looking behind to see Ulrich's position, but not the car when she went into the street. Destiny heard a screeching sound and a horn, but it was too late. She braced her arms in front of her as the vehicle slammed into her, sending her rolling onto the pavement where she laid still.

The driver exited his car to check on her just as Ulrich caught up. Destiny tried getting up, but she fell back down; her body was covered in bruises and her left arm had been broken. An ambulance was summoned right away and took her to the hospital. When a police officer came to the scene, Ulrich stayed to report everything that happened, except that he worded all the parts of Destiny doing those strange things differently.

At the hospital, a couple of doctors was crowding around the unconscious Destiny who was hooked up to a heart monitor to observe her heart rate and pulse. An orderly was writing out Destiny's information on a clipboard. "Let's see here," he muttered to himself. "Unknown name, female, appears between 14 and 16 years, Japanese background, brown hair, blue eyes, notable features include destroyed left eye and a tattoo reading '03'." The orderly finished up and exited the room while the doctors inspected Destiny.

The doctors slapped on latex gloves and began stripping off Destiny's clothes to inspect her body. "Okay, we have several bruises on the body," the first doctor, Claude Bergine, noted. "We have what seems to be a bullet wound in the waistline, but I'm not seeing the bullet anywhere."

"Intriguing," said the second, Dr Ashley Vertina. "Do we have any identification of this girl?" Dr Bergine shook his head.

"No, she didn't have an ID card on her person when she was brought in, so we'll have to obtain a blood sample later." Dr Bergine inspected Destiny's right arm where the 03 tattoo was. "Can you make sense of this tattoo, Ashley?"

Dr Vertina leaned over to look. "Hm, my guess is that it is her favorite or lucky number; mine is 38, by the way."

Dr Bergine shrugged his shoulders and continued inspecting Destiny further. He confirmed that her left arm was indeed broken, then the time came for her eye. Dr Bergine lifted the eye patch off and instantly felt sick, but he held it back. "Oh God, this is sickening. Ashley, go send in a report for eye surgery; I want to have this girl's eye fixed right away." Dr Vertina nodded and left the room, leaving Dr Bergine alone with Destiny.

"Poor girl," he muttered. "You've must've been through a lot." He dressed her in a patent smock and left her to rest.

After a couple hours, Destiny was moved into another room for her eye surgery operation. Dr Bergine led the team himself and addressed the situation to everyone. He checked the glass eye that Ashley Vertina brought him, confirming it was the right iris color. "Last thing we want is this girl to have two different eye colors," he told them.

They began the operation and went to work. Halfway through, they had removed Destiny's bad eye and were about to insert the glass replacement when she began convulsing. Her pulse quickened at an alarming rate, and she was tossing and turning, forcing the doctors to restrain her to the operating table.

"Nurse, I thought you sedated her!" Dr Bertine yelled.

"I did sir!" she screamed. "I don't understand what's-!" The nurse was suddenly thrown backwards by some invisible force. The glass doors on a couple cabinets shattered to pieces, and a few tools began levitating off their table, but no one noticed them. Destiny let out a loud scream that pierced everyone's ears until one doctor snatched up a sedative and injected it into Destiny's arm, forcing her down into unconsciousness, and everything returned to normal.

"What the hell was that?!" yelled one of the doctors. "I demand an explanation of what just happened!"

"Let's just finish this up okay?" Dr Bertine argued. "I don't know what happened, and personally, I don't care." They all went back to the operation, and a couple hours later, Destiny had herself a new eye. The doctors patched up her bruises and wounds and sent her back into her room while Dr Bergine and Vertina went to hand in their report.

"So, do we know if that girl has any family or relatives to report this to?" Dr Vertina asked.

"No, nothing. I looked at the blood sample, and, you won't believe this, there was little to no information on her; no name, no record of family, not even her blood type," Bergine told her.

"That's impossible. How can that be?"

"You're guess is as good as mine. However, when I was undressing her, I found a phone book page in her pocket."

Destiny continued sleeping in her room for a couple more hours. During that time, a silver light encircled Destiny's left arm, glowing brightly for a moment before disappearing. Her arm twitched slightly when the light vanished; it had healed itself. A trickle of blood dripped from her nose and ran down her cheek, staining the bed crimson. Destiny woke up some time later, surprised to see her arm healed completely and worked to change back into her uniform. Her sight caught a mirror on a table and she looked into it, surprised to see her new eye there. Destiny noticed that while the eye moved around in her head when she tilted it, she only had half her vision. A tear fell from her right eye; she knew it was fake, yet it gave her a false sense it was an actual eye.

When she finished dressing herself, Destiny snuck out her room with her jacket and bag and began her stealth journey for the exit. Upon exiting her room, Destiny closed her eyes and touched her temples, concentrating on the world around her. Images flashed in her mind; a doctor shuffling through papers was heading for the third floor stairs, a couple patients were on the first floor watching the television in the reception room, and three nurses were in the elevator going to the second and fourth floor.

Destiny groaned as the visions faded and her nose began bleeding again. She rushed back into her room and grabbed a cloth to wipe up the blood before heading down the hallway. She stopped short of the corner, just out of range of the security camera. Destiny raised her hand to the camera and a second later, it broke off its hinge and hung limply, allowing Destiny to sidle at the corner's edge and peer around. Seeing no one, she moved forward and made her way to the staircase and headed down to the first floor.

Destiny exited the door and headed for the entrance of the hospital; she took a deep breath and calmly walked through the reception area and out the front door, praying no one noticed her. When she was out of sight from the hospital, Destiny broke into a run, heading straight for Takumi Narahashi's house.

She followed her map carefully, and by the time hit four o' clock, Destiny found herself standing in front of a small apartment complex. She walked up to the directory and found Takumi's name being on floor three, room four. Destiny walked up the staircase and made her way to Takumi's apartment. She swallowed, bit her lip, and knocked on the door sharply.

**Remember to leave a review, it helps a lot, and I'll see you next time. Stay awesome, readers!**


	3. An Experiment

**Chapter 3: An Experiment**

Destiny swallowed, bit her lip, and knocked sharply on Takumi Narahashi's apartment door. There was silence for a moment, then she heard the shuffling of feet and the clicking of the door lock. The door opened slightly with the chain lock in place and a young man's face in the opening.

"Yes?" he said. "Who are you?"

Destiny found herself overwhelmed with joy. Tears fell from her eye as she regained her bearings. "I'm sorry, are you Dr. Takumi Narahashi?"

"Doctor?" He looked surprised to hear that. "Well, yes that's me, but I'm no doctor. Again, who are you?"

"Oh, I am Destiny Skye. Your brother Dr. Hajime Narahashi told me I should come to you for help." Destiny rummaged through her bag and showed him a picture of Hajime and Destiny from a few years ago. Takumi took the picture and stared at it for a moment before returning it to the girl.

"Please come in." He released the lock allowing Destiny to enter. Destiny took a seat on the shabby couch while Takumi went to get her a snack and drink. He returned with a bowl of cashews and a glass of water and sat down next to her, watching her eat. She took no notice that he clearly wanted an explanation and focused her time on chewing the nuts.

"Um, excuse me, but who are you exactly, and what is your connection with my brother?" Takumi rested his face against his fist waiting for her response.

Destiny took a swig from the glass and gasped at the refreshing taste. "I'm sorry for barging in on you like this. See, it's a very long story in order to explain, and I had a long day." Destiny was worried about how Takumi would answer.

Takumi rose from his seat and paced the room, running his hands through his hair. "Okay, I don't want the entire story yet, but just tell me your connection to my brother; and make it quick, cuz' I have my evening classes to go to soon."

"Evening classes? Aren't you a neurologist? Your brother said you are."

"He told you that? Well, he should've kept contact with me better," Takumi scoffed at himself. "I worked for my degree for a few years before I dropped out of the science route. Now I'm making my life as a writer, and I have classes to go to at evenings and work during the day. My brother and I haven't been in touch for almost six years now, so I guess he wouldn't know." Takumi trailed off while Destiny merely stared at him.

"Have you published a novel yet?" Destiny found herself trailing off as well.

Takumi chuckled. "No, I've submitted a couple stories before, but no publisher was interested. I feel like I have to wait for a story to fall into my lap for my career to work though." Takumi sighed and looked at his watch and gasped. "Oh crap! My class!" He rushed to his bedroom and dressed himself properly and gathered his bag and went for the door.

"We got off topic there," he said to Destiny. "There's some food in the fridge, television is right there, and a bookcase over there. I gotta go to my class, bye." He headed out the door. On his way down the steps, Takumi thought back to what happened there.

_God, that didn't go as I planned,_ he thought. _When I get back later tonight, I'll ask her again; she's probably been through a lot. Still, that picture of her with my brother, why didn't Hajime ever tell me or our family he adopted a kid?_

In the apartment, Destiny paced around the sitting room for a few minutes before stopping in front of the bookcase, which was nearly packed with books of all genres. Destiny opened up a science fiction novel and flipped through its pages before returning it. She skimmed through a couple fantasy, romance, fiction, and horror novels for a while.

Destiny smiled. "Takumi-san sure likes a lot of books," she muttered. She wandered back to the couch and flipped the television on, which came up with the news station. Destiny watched the anchormen prattle on about a string of rapes in the city lately, then a report of a traffic accident where a few people were injured. Destiny felt herself beginning to nod off when one of the anchormen said something that perked her ears.

"And in other news, Japan's government has denied even further details of the unknown destruction that occurred at a classified research facility nearly a couple weeks ago." Destiny scooted to the edge of the couch. "Several of Japan's news teams have attempted to discover anything, but soldiers keep them blocked off. The government refuses to divulge anything on the subject to both citizens and other nations."

Destiny shielded her face, but she did not shut the television off. The anchorman continued on, showing several close-up photographs of the facility that a random guy caught a few days afterwards. The pictures showcased some destroyed walls, craters in the ground, smashed vehicles, and so on.

"It's all my fault," Destiny whimpered. "All those soldiers died because of me. All this was me." She rose and walked to the window, leaning her arm against it, staring out into the city. She pounded the window and turned back with tears falling.

Destiny reached up and touched her glass eye for a moment, then tilted her head down. She went back to the couch and turned the television back on and flipped to a different channel. Leaning back into her seat, Destiny spied the bowl and glass Takumi gave her. Destiny then relaxed her mind and body and concentrated on the bowl.

Stretching her right hand out toward the bowl, it began twitching in place, the last few cashews bouncing around their home. Destiny focused even more, gritting her teeth as beads of sweat dripped down her forehead. Destiny bent her fingers, and the bowl lifted a few inches into the air. A smile spread across her face and she laughed, proud of her accomplishment.

Destiny stood up, her hand still trained on the flying bowl. With a flip and a lift of her hand, the bowl rose higher into the air. Destiny flicked her fingers, making the bowl turn over, dumping the cashews onto the floor before she set the bowl back down, though a little rough, as it spun on its hinges before remaining still.

Destiny then turned to the glass, and with enough focus, she lifted it high into the air. Waving her fingers around, the glass spun around like a sphere, sending droplets of water into the air. Destiny felt so happy with herself.

_I'm doing it! I'm beginning to understand my powers!_ Destiny thought. With her other hand, she lifted the bowl back up into the air and forced it to spin alongside the glass. _Okay, let's try it with no hands._ Focusing all her energy into it, Destiny slowly lowered her hands to her side, holding her gaze on the hovering objects. They continued hovering in midair, and that was when Destiny turned her attention on other objects in the apartment; mainly a flower vase and the coffee maker in the kitchen. Destiny focused on visioning the objects, and they glided into the sitting room next to the bowl and glass. Destiny held her hands open at her side as she walked backwards, causing the objects to follow her.

"This is so awesome! They never let me do this at the facility..." Destiny went silent from what she said. She lost focus, causing the objects to fall and shatter into pieces except for the coffee maker, which just got dented. Destiny ignored the mess she made and fell against the wall, sliding down to the floor to curl into a ball and rock back and forth weeping. Takumi came home four hours later to see the mess and Destiny still curled up. He dropped his things and rushed to her side, cradling her in his arms as she cried into his shoulder.

**Remember to leave a review, it helps a lot, and I'll see you next time. Stay cool readers.**


	4. Fire & Blood

**Chapter 4: Fire & Blood**

It has been a few days now, and Takumi just left for work. Destiny gave him no explanation for the mess the other day, and has refused to divulge anything about his brother's whereabouts. _It must be hard for her,_ he thought on the bus. _Yet, I have to know what happened to Hajime. Who is Destiny really? That mess the other day, her glass eye, and her lack of belongings indicate something strange. I'll have to ask her. _

Destiny remained in the apartment with her laptop, which was Takumi's previous that he never sold off for weeks. She surfed the internet for about an hour, all the while levitating a glass of water in the air before she grew bored and went for a walk. She slapped some cream cheese on a bagel and headed out, munching on it as she went.

Destiny felt herself in a sort of daze, her feet finding random places on the sidewalk. She stared down at her feet as she ate her bagel. Her mind kept flashing back to the events of the weeks before; when it all happened. She pushed it all out of her head except for one bit that stayed fresh in her mind; those soldiers in the underground levels:

_The five soldiers back for the open elevator, hurrying their reloading as Destiny walks toward them, her face frozen in a blank stare. All but one gather inside while the last summons the last of his courage and fires his rifle. Destiny lifted one hand, and every bullet stopped in midair by a white, vapor-like shield. Destiny pushed her hand out, sending the bullets back with increased speed. The soldier fell to the floor dead as a blood puddle oozed under him. _

_"Yamaguchi!" screamed the squad leader. Destiny continued closer. "You fucking bitch!" They all fired, but each bullet either whizzed past Destiny, or veered off into the walls by some unknown force. She stepped inside the elevator as the doors closed. The elevator opened on the first floor, its walls, ceiling, and floor splattered with the blood of the slaughtered soldiers. Destiny walked out, splashing her bare feet in the crimson liquid that covered her body as well. _

_More soldiers were stationed outside armed and ready. Destiny waved her arms out, and a wave of energy rippled out, slicing the soldiers into bloody pieces. Some were still alive, but barely. Destiny passed by them, leaving them to their agonizing deaths. One soldier jumped from around the corner with a knife, but Destiny caught him and, with a wave of her hand, his knife arm slid off its socket to the floor in a bloody heap. The soldier screamed in pain as Destiny merely stared at his horror-stricken face with her blank stare as sirens blared in the distance. _

Destiny snapped back to reality, hearing the sirens more clearly; a firetruck zoomed past her with a couple pedestrians following behind. Destiny stopped a young man. "What's going on?" she asked.

"There's a fire happening down the street!" he yelled. "An apartment complex!" He fled ahead, Destiny right behind him. When she got there, Destiny was taken back in horror at the complex ablaze with flames. Some firemen emerged from the burning complex carrying unconscious people to ambulances. Destiny joined a small crowd of people who were barricaded off by police. She squeezed her way up front for a closer look.

One fireman emerged carrying a middle-aged man. "Seems to be all that we could find in there," he said to a teammate. "We don't know if anyone else got out in time though."

Destiny touched her forehead, where a sudden ache ran through, as she stared up at the fiery second floor. "_Somebody help me!_" screamed a voice inside her head. Destiny staggered as the pain throbbed more. "_Help! Daddy, where are you?_"

Destiny looked back at the second floor. "She's in there," she whispered. She ducked under the police line and made a beeline dash for the front door. A police officer grabbed her and held her in place. "Get off me! There's a girl in there!"

"I can't let you, it's too dangerous!" he said. Destiny placed her hands on his chest, and the officer found himself on the ground a few feet away while Destiny ran into the burning building. She coughed up a lung at the lack of oxygen, but she did not give up. Destiny moved to the second floor, avoiding the burning piles of wood that laid strew. "Hello? Where are you?" Destiny called, but the roaring fires only droned out any voices. Where are you? she thought, pressing her temples for any life signs.

"_Daddy, help!_"

Destiny ran to Room #12 and kicked the door down. "Where are you? I'm here to help you!" Destiny further in, but it was getting difficult to breathe. She hurried her pace and moved into a bedroom, when she heard a girl's voice.

"I'm here, in the closet!" it said. Destiny found the closet doors blocked by burning rubble. She focused her power and shoved the rubble aside with a TK Push (which she named). Inside, Destiny found a young, thirteen-year old girl with glasses and long, smooth hair cowering in the corner. "Who are you?" she asked as Destiny lifted her to her feet.

"No time, we need to get out of here now!" They hurried out, only to feel the foundation quake under them. "Damn it, this place is going to fall any minute now!" They moved to the staircase, but it was strewn with burning rubble.

"What will we do now?!" screamed the girl. They ran back up, where Destiny eyed the far window.

"There, the window!" They both ran for the window until the girl suddenly screamed.

"Above you!" Destiny looked up as a bunch of burning wood planks fell onto her. It must have been an instinct sort of thing, but when she saw the falling debris, Destiny's telekinetic powers kicked in, forcing the debris to halt in midair before falling to their side. The girl was shocked. "What was that that you did?" she asked.

"Um, you could say it's a kind of magic," was all Destiny said. Suddenly, the building behind them began collapsing; Destiny grabbed the girl's wrist and ran for the window, a and, without hesitation, they jumped into the air. The girl screamed, but Destiny instead focused all her energy into absorbing their fall impact. Their legs glowed white as they hit the ground safely. Ambulance orderlies rushed the girls to their vehicles for treatment, the girl with her father who was retrieved earlier. Everyone who witnessed the girls' impressive feat were awestruck, but no one was able to inquire with them.

After being patched up, the girl came to Destiny. "Um, thank you so much for rescuing me," she said. "I don't know how you did it, but I want to show my gratitude." Destiny smiled.

"I only did what was right." She got up to leave before any of the authorities could question her.

"What? You're leaving at a time like this?" The girl took Destiny's hand to stop her.

"I'm sorry, but I can't stay here with the authorities around; I don't want to be shown on the news."

"Oh, well, at least tell me your name, and maybe that...stuff you did in there." She waved her hand mimicking Destiny's powers.

Destiny chuckled. "Alright. I'm Destiny Skye, and, like I said, it's just a kind of magic." She gave the girl a hug, who smiled back at her.

"Thank you, Destiny Skye. My name is Maria J. Hertzberg; the J being Jowadi. I hope we meet again someday." They separated and Destiny disappeared down the street unnoticed.

Later that day, the news stations were bombarded with reports of a mysterious girl who ran into a burning apartment complex and saved a teenage girl, who is also a day student at the pristine Kadic Academy. No one knows who the heroine is, and none have any video footage of her. She remains a mystery still.

All the way in the deep reaches of Japan, the photographer who nabbed the pictures of the strange facility that was devastated, snuck into the facility for more. Inside its walls, he found only death at the hands of a young man with the Greek letter, Alpha, tattooed on his neck. "What are you doing here?" he said to the photographer, who was frozen with fear being caught. "The Doctor said you might come back." He raised his hand, and the man then floated up in the air, completely immobile. With a clenching of his hand, the photographer's head imploded upon itself in a shower of blood and brains. The body fell to the floor as the Alpha man crushed the camera in his hand. "No more revealing secrets; now we must focus on finding Number 03."

**Remember to leave a review, it helps a lot, and I'll see you next time.**


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